Andy Martin renews his September 12th prediction that Benghazi is the “neutron” issue that will defeat President Obama for reelection

November 6, 2012

On September 12th Republican national security and foreign policy expert Andy Martin predicted “Benghazi-gate” would “doom President Obama’s reelection.” While “Washington Republicans” were undermining Mitt Romney on September 12th, Andy Martin stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the governor and predicted that the “Benghazi-gate” controversy would defeat Obama. In his provocative pre-election analysis, Andy now explains why “Benghazi-gate” is the “neutron” issue in the presidential campaign. Andy also defends Mitt Romney’s nimble decision to let surrogates and third parties carry the banner on Benghazi-gate. Andy says his prediction on September 12th was the “call of a lifetime.”

(Manchester, NH) (November 5, 2012) Republican Party national security and foreign policy expert Andy Martin was the first Republican to defend Governor Mitt Romney on September 12th and to predict the impact the attack on the U. S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya would have on the presidential election. His views:

I. The background to my September 12th prediction

I first went to Libya in 1971, soon after the Gaddafi regime took power. Over the decades since then, I have kept a close watch over developments in Libya. When the consulate was attacked on September 11, I immediately “connected the dots” and issued my presidential election prediction and public support for Mitt Romney on September 12th.

II. The criticism that the “media” are not paying attention

Partisans for an issue often believe they are receiving insufficient attention for their cause. That appears to be the case with regard to reporting on Benghazi-gate. But while others have criticized the “lack” of coverage I have kept my mouth shut.

I have been monitoring the spread of Benghazi-gate through the ether of the Internet. The spread of Benghazi-gate has been pervasive and ultimately lethal for the Obama campaign. If an issue has genuinely “not been covered,” then people should not know about it. But the people who need to know about Benghazi know all too well about the incident (see Part V below).

Benghazi has been both a highly visible issue and a “neutron bomb” that is exploding President Obama’s reelection without living any visible impact. Fox News has led the charge in exposing Benghazi-gate but other media have followed (see links in part [2] below for a small sampling). Jeanine Pirro has been leading the charge. Disputes with the CIA’s version of events have been reported, as well as criticism of the “cover-up.”

A story does not have to be “front-page news” to have a dramatic impact, particularly when an issue has an esoteric appeal to a specific group of voters such as military personnel and veterans and voters focused on foreign policy. That’s why I now label Benghazi a “neutron” issue. I predicted on September 12th that the story would doom Obama’s reelection; that was the “call of a lifetime” for its prescience.

Since September Benghazi has seeped into every area of the presidential campaign. The attack and the aftermath and cover-up are mentioned constantly and, apart from the campaign itself, and the candidates’ own tactics, Benghazi has been a focal point of the last weekend of the election. What more can anyone ask?

III. Romney’s decision not to focus on Benghazi-gate

Governor Romney has come under considerable criticism for not making “Benghazi” an issue in the final debate, and for not raising the issue of Benghazi in his speeches during the closing days of the campaign. Instead, surrogates such as John McCain and Kelly Ayotte and others have continued to attack the Obama administration for its Benghazi cover-up.

Media often want a “fight.” That is why there were endless predictions Romney would fire back at Obama in their final debate after the confusion generated by Candy Crowley at the second debate.

But Romney proved a more nimble and disciplined campaigner than anyone expected. Romney has stuck to his positive views, and his economic arguments. In my opinion, Romney’s closing days of the campaign have been brilliant.

Benghazi would have diluted Romney’s economic message and muddled the stream of positive comments Romney is delivering. As a clear example of shrewd marketing and candidate “positioning,” Romney’s team was totally correct and the media and others were completely wrong. In fact, Romney’s clear and consistent positive message, when juxtaposed with Obama’s negativity and querulousness, is a prime justification for my belief Romney will win on November 6th.

In retrospect, Romney’s team’s counterintuitive strategy of assigning Benghazi-gate to surrogates will prove to have been a brilliant decision. Benghazi-gate will be on November 6th what I predicted on September 12th, the issue that doomed President’s Obama’s reelection campaign.

Indeed, Benghazi has infiltrated the media to such an insidious extent that people ignore the obvious. Saturday’s New York Post “Page Six” had a cartoon that showed President Obama pursued by a Frankenstein “Benghazi.” (I can’t find a hyperlink to the cartoon; if you find one, please send it to me.) All aspects of the controversy have received more than adequate analysis (see links below in part [2]).

But the article that crystallized the pervasiveness of the Benghazi issue for me was an editorial written by Jac Versteeg raising doubts about Obama’s handling of the Benghazi aftermath (see link [3] below). The Palm Beach Post is a liberal newspaper in a very liberal part of a liberal region (South Florida).

Any Democrat should know that when Obama’s judgment is being challenged in the Palm Beach Post, the president “has a serious problem.” Anyone and everyone for whom Benghazi would be a decisive issue in voting is now fully aware of what happened and how Obama evaded responsibility for his feckless behavior in allowing besieged Americans to be denied any relief.

IV. Andy Martin’s lifetime of national security predictions

Dan Balz, who is now the national political correspondent for the Washington Post, was my editor at the Daily Illini at the University of Illinois. At the beginning of 1968 I walked into Dan’s cube and handed him a commentary based on my knowledge of Viet-Nam. I predicted Khe Sanh would be a critical battlefield in 1968, and that the A-Shau Valley would become a renewed focus. Both predictions proved to be correct. Balz did not run my column because he did not trust my expertise. Balz was not the last person to ignore my work.

During the 1979-1980 Iran hostage crisis I was the only American allowed into Iran in 1980. President Carter’s staff ignored my analysis then.

In the run up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, I predicted the invasion would weaken Israel and strengthen Iran. While living in Baghdad I became an early, if not the first, critic of Paul Bremer. I predicted the insurgency when the opposite view in Washington was that the capture of Saddam Hussein ended the conflict. So while my September 12th Benghazi analysis was the “call of a lifetime,” I have made many similar “calls” during a national security and foreign policy career that goes back to the 1960’s. Now you know why my views and analysis are respected around the world. I have a proven track record of getting the call right.

[Andy has over forty years of national security experience with Asia and the Middle East; he is regarded overseas as one of America’s most respected independent foreign policy, military and intelligence analysts. His analysis of the terrorist threat in Iran during the 1979-80 hostage crisis, and again in Iraq in 2003, were leading-edge predictions of what Americans faced in the future.

Andy first went to Asia in 1967 and since then he has been in Israel, Jordan, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Viet-Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Hong Kong. He was in Iran and Afghanistan in 1979-80, and has regularly returned to Southwest Asia since then. Most recently he lived overseas in Iraq in 2003.]

V. The bottom line: Benghazi undermines Obama’s reelection

President Obama thought his “killing Osama” meme would encourage military veterans and retirees to vote for him. Benghazi has turned the military and the veterans’ community against the president. Retired veterans are concentrated in swing states such as Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada and Ohio. The manner in which besieged Americans in Benghazi were callously denied any rescue efforts has disgusted our military personnel and veterans. Veterans’ votes will prove to be the margin of victory for Mitt Romney in several swing states. Count’em. Ironically, and surprisingly for many, Benghazi “grew” into a lethal weapon against Obama, a self-inflicted fatal wound to his reelection. And I predicted that on September 12th.

ujntsman wasd reelected in November, 2008. A few monrths later he resigned to serve
his president,” Barack Obama. SDo whyh was it so terrible that Palin resigned and Hutsman served evenless of his secondterm? Can I say “double standard” again.

“Andy Martin is revolutionizing journalism… [Andy] brings to online journalism what Rush Limbaugh [brings] to radio or Michael Moore to film: sleek little stories that fit into larger political narratives…”

“The only American journalists that are “standing UP” [to Obama] are, Andy Martin…”

ABOUT ROMNEY’S RANGERS:

Romney’s Rangers is led by Andy Martin, a legendary New Hampshire, New York and Chicago-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. Andy’s family immigrated to New Hampshire 100 years ago, where he now makes his home. Chicago Public Radio calls Andy a “boisterous Internet activist.” The Chicago Tribune calls him “Chicago’s own…political activist.” He has forty-four years of background in radio and television. He is the author of “Obama: The Man Behind The Mask” [www.OrangeStatePress.com] and he produced the Internet film “Obama: The Hawaii’ Years” [www.BoycottHawaii.com]. Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the “Internet Powerhouse,” www.ContrarianCommentary.com. He comments on local, regional, national and international events with more than four decades of investigative and analytical experience both in the USA and around the world.